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Harry Potter/Granger and the Philosopher's Stone

The next few weeks of school followed the same pattern as the first one. During the school days, Harry and Hermione spent most of their time together, playing together at break-times and helping each other out during lessons. At first the help was a very one-sided affair- Hermione helping Harry catch up with something that had been covered in the week or so he'd missed while in hospital- but, over time, the help became more equally divided, each one working on a certain problem or question that gave the other trouble.

Harry was actually rather surprised that he caught on to some details better than Hermione, but a part of him felt that it made sense. In the past, Harry had never really been driven to excel at his studies, since the Dursleys had often beaten him if he'd ever scored better than Dudley at some test or another, but now that he didn't have their abuse to worry about, he was truly starting to apply himself to his studies, and was proving to be very capable at the job.

True, he wasn't quite as good as Hermione in the theory in some cases- he forgot a few of the minor details when the time came- but he was getting there…

Every weekend, regardless of what else came up, Hermione always managed to convince her parents to let her spend time with Harry. Even if neither of them were available to keep an eye on the two children for the whole day, one of them simply took around half an hour or so off to drive Hermione to the orphanage, and then they left her there for the day to play with her friend.

However, Harry wasn't the only one who was changed by having Hermione as a friend. His school grades picked up a significant amount with her help, true, but Hermione was also affected by her new friend, although only her parents really noticed it.

As Alan and Jane Granger watched their daughter spend increasing more time with her new friend, they couldn't help but notice the change that occurred to her personality.

They had always encouraged their daughter's schoolwork, but had often felt that she should have a bit more fun and spend time with friends. Despite their best efforts, her dedication to her studies, coupled with her fondness for reading, had made it difficult for Hermione to get along well with the other students in her first year at school, but when Harry had started talking to her, she had begun to come out of her shell.

She not only found someone who had been deprived of company almost as much as she had (Albeit for different reasons), but had also found someone who was willing to listen to her talk about the things she had read in her books. Having been deprived of fiction for most of his early years, Harry was always ready to listen when Hermione started talking about one of the books she had read, a fact that played no small part in helping to boost her self-esteem. With Harry's help, she finally learned to relax and just find time to be a little girl on some occasions, as was evidenced by the sheer amount of time she spent playing with Harry these days.

All in all, the only thing about their friendship that Harry and Hermione regretted was that it had to be cut short for a time when the first major holiday came. Hermione and her parents were going up to Glasgow to spend Christmas with her cousins, so Harry and her wouldn't be able to see each other over the holiday like they'd hoped. Hermione had tried to ask her parents if they could take Harry up with them, but the orphanage couldn't let a child leave for that long, so Harry had resigned himself to staying where he was while his friend.

The day the school closed for the Christmas holidays, Jane wasn't surprised to see her daughter giving Harry a tight hug at the bus stop that he always waited at, before joining her in the car to go home. If there was anything Jane was grateful to Harry for, it was how his friendship had led to her daughter becoming significantly more emotionally available over the last few months. Jane had wondered about it at first, given how uncomfortable Hermione had been in the past about even hugging her parents of her own accord, but after learning about Harry's past, Jane felt that she had a better idea as to why her daughter had done that.

She was giving Harry the physical comfort that his aunt and uncle had never bothered to give him…

Jane still couldn't quite believe that two human beings could treat their own nephew that way. She knew that Harry was telling the truth, of course- she'd asked Mr McNish about Harry's life during their first meeting all those months ago- but she still couldn't understand. What could they have hated so much about Harry?

Shaking off her musings, Jane glanced over at her daughter, who was sitting in the passenger seat beside her, Hermione hadn't talked much on the way back to their house; she kept on looking out the window, her chin in her hand and an almost blank expression on her face, as though thinking hard about something.

"Missing Harry, dear?" Jane asked eventually, breaking the silence.

"Horribly," Hermione said, sighing sadly as she stared out of the window. "He's my best friend, Mummy; I just wish he could have Christmas with a family that cared about him."

She looked over at her mother, pain evident in her eyes. "I just can't believe what the Dursleys put him through; his uncle's sister once gave him dog biscuits as a Christmas present. How could someone be so mean…?"

Jane sighed as she stared out at the road before her. "People can do cruel things sometimes, Hermione," she said, as she turned a corner. "Just be grateful Harry won't have to put up with it any more."

She smiled as she glanced over at her daughter. "Although you've certainly helped him deal with life away from them. Your dad and I are very proud of you for that, Hermione."

Hermione blushed slightly and turned to look back out of the window, a barely- audible "Thanks, mum," being muttered as she turned away.

She didn't know it, but Hermione's last words had given Jane cause to think…

As soon as her husband got home, she and Alan would need to have a talk.

Later that day, as Hermione sat upstairs in her room and read, Alan and Jane sat down in the kitchen, talking about Jane's recent suggestion.

"You're sure about this, Jane?" Alan asked, looking inquiringly at his wife. "I mean, can we handle another? The money's fine at the moment, but do we really have the finances to support him?"

Jane nodded. "I checked with our bank manager just to make sure before you got back; we might need to tighten our belts a little bit at first to accommodate him, but business seems to be going well, so we should be able to manage after a while."

"Well, that's good to know," Alan said, as he glanced up at the ceiling where his daughter sat in her room. He smiled slightly. "If nothing else, Hermione should be happy; she always wanted a sibling."

He glanced over at his wife. "So, when should we go over to the orphanage?"

"Tomorrow, I think," Jane replied. "I'm sure he'll want to come with us for Christmas; it doesn't sound like he's had very good ones in the past."

The next morning, Harry had just finished breakfast (A highly enjoyable plate of bacon and sausages), and was browsing through the orphanage library for something to read when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a mass of bushy brown hair in his face as the girl to whom the hair belonged hugged him tightly around the neck.

"H-Hermione?" he said, staring at her in confusion as she pulled back, grinning broadly at him. "What are you doing here?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'm not sure, really; Mummy and Daddy just seemed to decide that we should visit you today and asked me to come and find you while they talked with Mr McNish," she said, looking slightly apologetic at not knowing the answer to Harry's question. "Shall we go and see them?"

Harry nodded. "Sure," he said, smiling at his friend as they walked out of the library. "After all, I haven't got anything else planned."

As soon as the two small children stepped into the office, the Grangers and Mr McNish turned to look at them, Mr McNish smiling slightly at Harry.

"Ah, good, you found each other," he said, before devoting his attention to the Grangers. "I'll give you four a few minutes to talk things over; I'll be in the entrance hall when you're finished."

As he walked out of the office and closed the door, Harry and Hermione could only stare at the Grangers in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked, looking at her parents inquiringly. "What were you talking to Mr McNish about?"

"Well… it's about Harry, really," Mr Granger said, looking at his daughter's friend. "We wanted to ask you… would you like to come home with us?"

Hermione stared at her father as though he had just asked for directions to his own head.

"Of course he would," she said, looking over at her friend with a smile. "Wouldn't you, Harry? You always enjoyed mummy's lasagna-"

"Hermione…" Mrs Granger said, looking over at her daughter.

"What?" Hermione answered, looking back at her mother. "Mummy, you're making it too difficult. Of course Harry would like to come over for tea."

Mrs Granger sighed, a slight smile on her face as though amazed at her daughter's mistake, as she turned to look at Harry. "What my husband and I are really asking you, Harry, is… would you like to come and live with us?"

Harry's eyes widened.

He couldn't believe it… someone actually wanted him? Him? On some level, no matter how helpful Hermione had been for him, he was still that terrified little five-year-old who couldn't believe that anyone would ever actually like him…

But, right now, he was past that.

He was just a nearly six-and-a-half year-old boy, who'd just heard the most unexpected news of his life, and was only now realising that he had never been this happy.

"Are… are you saying… you want to adopt me?" he asked, looking at them with a slightly nervous aspect around him, as though he was afraid they were just going to laugh at him and this would all turn out to be some cruel joke…

Mr Granger nodded. "Yes, Harry, we are," he said, smiling slightly at the young boy. "That is, if you and Hermione wouldn't mind?"

"Mind?" Hermione asked, looking over at her parents incredulously. "Why would I mind? I finally get a brother, and it's Harry!"

She glanced over eagerly at her friend. "Please say yes, Harry, please…" she begged, staring at him with the same puppy-like eyes that always seemed to sway her parents around to their point of view whenever she and Harry wanted to go somewhere.

"I… uh… wow," Harry said, looking over at the Grangers in a daze. "I mean, I already think of Hermione as a sister, and it'd be great to be part of an actual… family… but are you sure you want me?"

Looking down at small child who might soon be his adopted son, Alan could barely stop himself from losing his temper at the 'guardians' who had given such a likeable child such a low opinion of himself.

"Trust me, Harry; we're sure," he said, smiling slightly at the little boy to reassure him. "We wouldn't have asked otherwise."

Harry swallowed slightly.

"Uh… could I just ask… for one thing?" he asked. "It's just… well, I don't really remember my parents… but, well, I like to think that they did care about me and the Dursleys just got me by accident… so… could I… maybe… keep my last name?"

He looked at the Grangers nervously, and Jane smiled reassuringly at the little boy.

"Of course you can, Harry," she said, as Hermione looked over at Harry eagerly, biting her lip as though to stop herself from yelling for joy before she knew for sure either way.

Harry swallowed slightly, looked down at the ceiling as though trying to come to a decision, and then looked back up at Jane.

"Thanks… mum?" he said, an inquiring expression in his eyes as though he wanted to know if he should call her something else.

"YES!" Hermione cried, running over to Harry and hugging him tightly, grinning so hard that it almost seemed as though her head would break in half. Slightly awkwardly, surprised by the sheer intensity of her joy, Harry returned the hug, the faint glimmering of tears visible in the corners of his eyes as he looked back at the Grangers.

"Thank you…" he whispered to them, his attention consumed by the hug he was receiving from his new sister.

Alan smiled back at the small boy.

"You're welcome, Harry," he said, as he and his wife stood up. "We'll just sort out the paperwork with Mr McNish, and then we can go home.

Home… Harry thought to himself, unable to keep himself squeezing Hermione even tighter as the sheer simple joy of the word filled him.

I have a home… a family…

Outside the office window, looking in at the two small children hugging gleefully, an old man smiled.

"Just the thing…" he mused to himself, as he studied a gold device in his pocket briefly before slipping it away again. "A few weeks to get him settled in, and then I'll set those new wards up."

He smiled at the thought. True, the spell work required for the new wards to be erected would take a lot out of him, but now that he felt as though he had the time to do so, he should be able to prepare them easily enough.

And then, Harry could have what Dumbledore had hoped he would be able to live all along.

A normal childhood.